Literature Festivals and Book Events
Toronto / November 2025
Quiet Revolutions: Ziyad Saadi & Fadi Zaghmout
Join Palestinian Canadian writer and filmmaker Ziyad Saadi and acclaimed Jordanian author and activist Fadi Zaghmout for a powerful conversation on masculinity, identity and the quiet revolutions of everyday life. Darkly funny, and full of surprises, Saadi’s Three Parties pays twisted homage to Virginia Woolf’s literary classic, Mrs. Dalloway – gleefully upending the western coming-out narrative, and exploring the traumas and pressures faced by Palestinian immigrants. In his groundbreaking allegorical novel, The Man of Middling Height, Zaghmout imagines a society whose deepest prejudices are about height – rather than race, gender, or sexuality – delivering a powerful meditation on discrimination and desire.
Nantes / October 2025
Is technology our only hope or our greatest enemy?
In a science fiction genre that sees the return of dystopia and ultra-technological worlds, can we still believe that technology will save us? Can resistance also rise up against certain forms of technology or its use? How can we approach these new tools without turning them into saviors or enemies?
Panelists: PLEYNET Audrey, LIGNY Jean-Marc, ZAGHMOUT Fadi
Date: 30th October, 16:15 -17:15
Towards an intimate future
Science fiction takes many forms and identities. Sometimes set in space, geopolitics, sagas, or standalone novels, it also explores more intimate themes through its relationship with intimacy and the future. How can we find this literary and forward-looking balance?
Panelists: MINARD Céline, NORTH Emet, ROUSSIN Simon, ZAGHMOUT Fadi
Date: 31th October, 9:15 -10:15
Amman / October 2025
A talk at Amman National School
Talked to 11th and 12th grades students about my journey as an author, my books, and the importance of literature in general.
Online / September 2025
Join us for the tenth Confluences live panel on the 24th of September to talk about German science fiction!
Guest will be Aiki Mira. A German science fiction author. Their novels, short fiction and essays have won multiple prizes and been translated into French, English, and Chinese.
Amman / August 2025
Official launch event for Farah Ala Al Ard, with Amwaj Abu Hamda at Rainbow Theatre in Jabal Amman
Check photos from the event in this blog post.
Tuscaloosa / April 2025
Hosted by Prof. Safa Elnaili to talk to her student about The Bride of Amman as part of their “Arab Women in Literature” course reading list.
Lyon / September 2024
Confluences live talks
Hosting two great scifi writers, Fadi Zaghmout and Yasser Abu-elhassab along with Dave Nykeron (translator and co-founder of Hikaya). The subject will be Arabic science-fiction !
Watch the online session on youtube by clicking here.
Amman / August 2024
A discussion about Fadi Zaghmout’s novels.
Moderated by Jordanian author, Merna Hatoqa
Amman / August 2023
Legenda Bookstore
Book Launch: Amal Ala Al Ard at Legenda Bookstore Mecca Mall
The event was moderated by Amwaj Abu Hamda
A collection of selected photos from events at different cities around the world; Amman, Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Nancy, Salzburg, Pune, Brighton, Oxford, Tuscaloosa and Kuwait.
Nancy /
April 2023
Livres d’Ailleurs 2023
Restitution de l’atelier de traduction arabefrançais mené par le département d’arabe du
Campus Lettres et Sciences Humaines
Aya Mansour (Irak), Carol Sansour (Palestine),
Fadi Zaghmout (Jordanie)
Corps intimes et corps politiques
Ghazi Rabihavi (Iran), Hyam Yared (Liban),
Fadi Zaghmout (Jordanie)
Animation : Kenza Sefrioui
New York / April 2021
Lebanese American University / NY
Moderated by Mona Eltahawy
A talk about gender and sexuality referenced in Fadi Zaghmout’s books
Tuscaloosa /
March 2022
Talks at Alabama University
This visit was possible with the extremely generous support of the Middle East Studies Program directed by Dr. Waleed Hazbun. MLC is a co-sponsor along with the departments of English and Gender and Race.
Dubai / February 2022
In Conversation with Fadi Zaghmout
Discussing the balancing act between a writer’s freedom and what is socially unacceptable.
Paris / July 2021
Rencontre avec Fadi Zaghmout, l’auteur de l’Épouse d’Amman
Auteur de l’Épouse d’Amman, sera exceptionnellement présent à Paris ce mardi 20 juillet. C’est l’occasion de faire la connaissance de cet auteur jordanien et peut-être même de découvrir son livre, dans les locaux de l’Asiathèque! Venez nombreux pour l’accueillir!
Kuwait / November 2019
Can gender be divided by height? [Keynote]
Our most accepted human division is gender-based. We create two human kinds based on
a single attribute division and then we divide
other human attributes and social roles
based on the same division.
Mind the Gap [Panel]
Moderated by: Tariq AlKhawaji
Panelists:
Fadi Zaghmout – Author
Khadeija Al Shammari -Social Activist
Iman Al Dabbagh – Photographer
Dubai / March 2019
Women Crossing Borders: Shereen Abouelnaga, Huzaima Habayeb & Fadi Zaghmout
What is the nature of boundaries that women in novels have to contend with? How do these boundaries reflect the real world? Who sets boundaries? And is there a big difference between boundaries facing men and women? What is the difference between boundaries imposed on men and those imposed on women in the contemporary narrative experiment?
Pune / March 2018
PILF 2018 : Evolution of human rights
Are we there yet?
Justice Roshan Dalvi, Fadi Zaghmout, Benjamin Glahn
Moderated by
Vinita Deshmukh
Dynamics of Family Across Cultures
James Fennell, Fadi Zaghmout, Gurcharan Das and Sudha Menon
Moderated by Braja Sorensen
Dubai / November 2017
LITERATURUAUS AT NADI
In this talk, author Fadi Zaghmout will launch and discuss his new Arabic sci-fi book ‘Heaven on Earth’ with Hani Yakan in Nadi Al Quoz.
‘Heaven on Earth’ is set in Jordan, around the 2090s. Aging is reversible, thanks to major advances in bioscience and nanotechnology. But in a world where eternal youth has become a reality, complications arise.
Dubai / July 2017
LITERATURUAUS AT NADI
Reading and performance: Fadi Zaghmout and Hani Yakan | The Bride of Amman
London / June 2016
MENA Youth: Navigating Gender Rights and Personal Freedoms in the 21st Century
Basira invites you to attend an informative evening discussion with best- selling author, social activist and blogger, the Jordanian Fadi Zaghmout. Drawing inspiration from his first novel ‘The Bride of Amman’, he will tackle the delicate subject of MENA Youth and how they are navigating gender rights and personal freedoms in the 21st Century. He will also be joined in conversation with Shereen El Feki, the Egyptian-Welsh author of ‘Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World.’
Brlin / June 2016
Ibn Rushd Lecture (English/Arabic): Fadi Zaghmout reads from his book “the Bride of Amman”
The next event in our series Ibn Rushd Lectures was on June 15, when blogger and novelist Fadi Zaghmout read from his novel ‘The Bride of Amman’ on June 15 at 8pm in the Lettrétage, Berlin.
Oxford / November 2015
The Bride of Amman: Sexual Freedoms and Body Rights in The Middle East
Join Fadi Zaghmout and translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp for a frank discussion about LGBT and women rights, as they present the new english translation of The Bride of Amman
Windsor / November 2015
Talk about The Bride of Amman
Join Fadi Zaghmout and translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp for a frank discussion about LGBT and women rights, as they present the new english translation of The Bride of Amman
London / November 2015
The Bride of Amman: Fadi Zaghmout in conversation with Brian Whitaker
An opportunity to meet and hear Middle East gay rights activist and novelist Fadi Zaghmout in conversation with Brian Whitaker, former Middle East editor of the Guardian and author of Unspeakable Love – Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East.
Salsburg / June 2013
LGBT and Human Rights – Day Four – Safety and Social Media
Uses of old and new media for the LGBT community.
LGBT and Human Rights – Day Two – Culture and Resilience
Fellows share their artistic work inspired by lives as members of the LGBT community
Fadi Zaghmout 